Monitoring and evaluation

The International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) require countries to develop and maintain a set of public health capacities to implement the Regulations effectively. These capacities need to be continuously monitored and periodically evaluated to ensure an adequate level of public health emergency preparedness.

Implementing a World Health Assembly recommendation from 2015, WHO has developed a set of methodologies for IHR monitoring and evaluation (M&E) that allow countries to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of their IHR capacities, and to identify gaps, devise improvements and track progress. The recommendation requested WHO to complement self-assessments with “… approaches that combine self-evaluation, peer review and voluntary external evaluations involving a combination of domestic and independent experts”.

WHO’s M&E methodologies also ensure the mutual accountability of States Parties and WHO for global public health security through transparent reporting and dialogue.

IHR monitoring and evaluation tools

WHO/Europe is ready to provide countries in the European Region with technical support and guidance in using the tools and developing plans for action based on the identified findings.